Entertainment
‘Fifty Shades Of Grey’ tops North American box office for second time
Los Angeles: Universal’s R-rated film “Fifty Shades Of Grey” dropped over 70 percent on ticket sales in North America, but it still got enough to win the box office for the second time on the Oscar weekend.
“Fifty Shades Of Grey” was on track to sell an estimated $23.2 million in tickets. Despite sales plummeting by as much as 73 percent this weekend, it totalled $130.1 million in America and Canada, as per reported.
Adapted from E.L. James’ erotic novel, “Fifty Shades Of Grey” opened on the Valentine’s Day weekend.
Starring Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson, it was a huge hit overseas, pulling in $280.5 million in 58 regions at the international box office, with the total worldwide haul is $410.6 million.
“Kingsmen: The Secret Service” was in second place with 17.5 million dollars and 67.1 million dollars gross. It fell 52 percent on ticket sales compared with the opening weekend.
“Spongebob Squarepants: Sponge Out of Water” held on to third place, with an estimated $15.5 million this weekend. That movie has soaked up $125.2 million in sales, much of that contributed by family moviegoers.
Two new movies opened in the top five. Disney’s “McFarland, USA” debuted with $11.3 million at 2,755 locations in North America, and Lionsgate film “The Duff” opened with $11 million.
With several big openings in the first two months, the overall box office so far in 2015 is up 10 percent from the same period last year.
Rounding op the top 10 movies this weekend, in terms of ticket sales in the US and Canada, and as reported by the studios and gathered by Rentrak, were “American Sniper” ($9.7 million), “Hot Tub Time Machine 2” ($5.8 million), “Jupiter Ascending” ($3.7 million), “The Imitation Game” ($2.6 million) and “Paddington” ($2.3 million).
Entertainment
Casino Days Reveal Internal Data on Most Popular Smartphones
International online casino Casino Days has published a report sharing their internal data on what types and brands of devices are used to play on the platform by users from the South Asian region.
Such aggregate data analyses allow the operator to optimise their website for the brands and models of devices people are actually using.
The insights gained through the research also help Casino Days tailor their services based on the better understanding of their clients and their needs.
Desktops and Tablets Lose the Battle vs Mobile
The primary data samples analysed by Casino Days reveal that mobile connections dominate the market in South Asia and are responsible for a whopping 96.6% of gaming sessions, while computers and tablets have negligible shares of 2.9% and 0.5% respectively.
The authors of the study point out that historically, playing online casino was exclusively done on computers, and attribute thе major shift to mobile that has unfolded over time to the wide spread of cheaper smartphones and mobile data plans in South Asia.
“Some of the reasons behind this massive difference in device type are affordability, technical advantages, as well as cheaper and more obtainable internet plans for mobiles than those for computers,” the researchers comment.
Xiaomi and Vivo Outperform Samsung, Apple Way Down in Rankings
Chinese brands Xiaomi and Vivo were used by 21.9% and 20.79% of Casino Days players from South Asia respectively, and together with the positioned in third place with a 18.1% share South Korean brand Samsung dominate the market among real money gamers in the region.
Cupertino, California-based Apple is way down in seventh with a user share of just 2.29%, overshadowed by Chinese brands Realme (11.43%), OPPO (11.23%), and OnePlus (4.07%).
Huawei is at the very bottom of the chart with a tiny share just below the single percent mark, trailing behind mobile devices by Motorola, Google, and Infinix.
The data on actual phone usage provided by Casino Days, even though limited to the gaming parts of the population of South Asia, paints a different picture from global statistics on smartphone shipments by vendors.
Apple and Samsung have been sharing the worldwide lead for over a decade, while current regional leader Xiaomi secured their third position globally just a couple of years ago.
Striking Android Dominance among South Asian Real Money Gaming Communities
The shifted market share patterns of the world’s top smartphone brands in South Asia observed by the Casino Days research paper reveal a striking dominance of Android devices at the expense of iOS-powered phones.
On the global level, Android enjoys a comfortable lead with a sizable 68.79% share which grows to nearly 79% when we look at the whole continent of Asia. The data on South Asian real money gaming communities suggests that Android’s dominance grows even higher and is north of the 90% mark.
Among the major factors behind these figures, the authors of the study point to the relative affordability of and greater availability of Android devices in the region, especially when manufactured locally in countries like India and Vietnam.
“And, with influencers and tech reviews putting emphasis on Android devices, the choice of mobile phone brand and OS becomes easy; Android has a much wider range of products and caters to the Asian online casino market in ways that Apple can’t due to technical limitations,” the researchers add.
The far better integration achieved by Google Pay compared to its counterpart Apple Pay has also played a crucial role in shaping the existing smartphone market trends.
Content provided by Adverloom